The present invention generally relates to delivery of items, and particularly relates to the delivery of items such as parcels (a.k.a. xe2x80x9cpackagesxe2x80x9d) from a delivery service provider (hereinafter xe2x80x9cdelivery servicexe2x80x9d), to an intended recipient (a.k.a. xe2x80x9cconsigneexe2x80x9d).
The delivery of parcels and other items to the residence of intended recipients is well known in the art.
Under the prior art, when a parcel is undeliverable, a xe2x80x9cdelivery noticexe2x80x9d is left at the particular location, and the intended recipient then has the opportunity to call the delivery service (e.g. UPS) via telephone and arrange to have the package(s) redelivered, held at a local operation center, redirected, or returned. However, the consumer does not know much about the parcel(s) (e.g., who sent it to them) or even how many parcels were undeliverable.
The delivery service can use the address of the customer to determine the delivery center location, as well as the truck which included the customers route. The delivery service will then pull the package from the truck (after matching the customer""s name with the parcel(s)) and attend to the necessary handling of the parcel.
As may be understood, such activities are labor intensive.
An example of a delivery notice is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,942, entitled xe2x80x9cBar-Coded Label for xe2x80x98Attempt to Deliverxe2x80x99 Articles,xe2x80x9d issued Feb. 8, 2000, but this patent attempts to resolve issues of undeliverable parcels by providing a multi-sectioned form 10 which can be separated along various perforated section lines to allow portions of the form to be attached to the parcel and other portions to be left at the delivery address.
In light of the above, it may be seen that there is a need in the art to provide an improved method for providing package or other item delivery which is less labor intensive than the methods described above.
Generally described, the present invention provides an improvement over the known prior art by providing a link between a delivery notice (such as those left on the door of a residential location) to a tracking number on the package.
Generally described, the present invention provides a system for delivering a plurality of unique items each having unique identities and each having a different machine-readable item code readable therefrom, the system comprising a plurality of delivery notices, each of the delivery notices including a machine-readable delivery notice code thereon, each of the delivery notice codes being unique within the plurality of delivery notices, a code-reading device configured to read the machine-readable delivery notice code from one of the delivery notices as well as to read the machine-readable item code from each of the plurality of items, such that a delivery notice code is read and a plurality of item codes are read; and a code storing device, the device configured to store the delivery notice code and the plurality of item codes.
More particularly described, the present invention provides a method for delivering, to an intended recipient, a plurality of unique items each having unique identities and each having a different machine-readable item code readable therefrom, the method including the steps of: providing a plurality of delivery notices, each of the delivery notices including a machine-readable delivery notice code thereon, each of the delivery notice codes being unique within the plurality of delivery notices; attempting the delivery of the plurality of unique items at a designated address of the intended recipient under a set of predetermined delivery rules; delivering the items to the intended recipient if the delivery rules are met; retaining the items and proceeding to the following steps if the delivery rules are not met; machine reading the machine-readable delivery notice code from one of the delivery notices and storing corresponding electronic data associated with the machine-readable delivery notice code; machine reading the machine-readable item code from each of the plurality of items, and storing electronic data associated with the plurality of items; electronically linking the electronic data associated with the machine-readable delivery notice code with the electronic data associated with the machine-readable delivery notice code; reporting information regarding each of the plurality of unique items in response to receipt of a description of the one of the delivery notices from the intended recipient; and modifying delivery plans based upon subsequent instructions from the intended recipient.
Therefore it is an aspect of the present invention to provide an improved method of delivering parcels or other similar items.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide an improved method of delivering parcels or other similar items which is reliable.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide an improved method of delivering parcels or other similar items which is efficient.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of delivering parcels or other similar items which allows customers to obtain information about parcels which were initially undeliverable.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention when taken in conjunction with the drawing and the appended claims.